SWT Aerial Surveillance Unit Report March 2019

AERIAL SURVEILLANCE UNIT MONTHLY REPORT

MARCH 2019

AERIAL STATISTICS

MARCH 2019

104 HOURS FLOWN

12,283 KMS COVERED

AREAS PATROLLED

Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Chyulu Hills, KARI Ranch

MARCH 2019

MONTHLY AERIAL PATROL MAP

MONTHLY AERIAL SUMMARY March usually marks the onset of Tsavo’s short rains (long rains for the rest of the country). Despite many of the telltale signs of impending rain – ostriches laying eggs, acacias flowering, and oppressive heat – only a couple small rain storms fell in Tsavo. As the month wore on, nothing seemed to abate the intense heat and much of the Park has become dry and dusty at a time of the year that is normally relatively wet. Perhaps because of this unexpected delay in the rains, Human-Wildlife Conflict cases were numerous.

In March, the helicopter was called out 7 times to deal with elephants outside of the Park. On 5 of these occasions, small to medium sized herds were successfully pushed back into the Park with the helicopter. The other two difficult cases proved unsuccessful after several attempts to remove the elephants out of conflict zones, causing much alarm amidst the community; clearly without intervention the situation would have ended in disaster, so the Trust joined forces in an effort to physically remove the elephants from the dangerous situation. With Dr Poghon on leave, Dr Mijele and the SWT funded Mt Kenya Veterinary Unit were mobilized together with the KWS elephant translocation unit along with additional personnel and the SWT helicopter. This was an incredibly challenging operation which ended up with great success with the elephants being safely transported into the Kibwezi Forest and Chyulu Hills respectively.

The elephants, in separate locations, were darted by the helicopter and then hoisted onto a lorry with a crane and transported safely into the Park recumbent and sleeping before being revived. This was the only way to remove these elephants out of the community and away from danger as too much infrastructure was between them and the protected area - this operation also ensured the safety of community members living in close proximity.

Three carcasses were discovered in March, all with ivory intact and presumed to have died from natural causes. In addition to this, two small pieces of ivory were discovered on a helicopter patrol next to a spring on the Yatta plateau and suspected to have broken off during a fight. All ivory was recovered and delivered to KWS headquarters either in Kamboyo, Tsavo West or Voi, Tsavo East.

Poaching activity was relatively sparse in March, with one harbour being sighted on a fixed wing patrol and a total of 3 harbours and 1 shooting blind discovered on helicopter patrols. Two of the harbours and the shooting blind were found while in pursuit of suspects whose tracks were followed for several kilometres before they were unfortunately lost. The suspected poachers are believed to have made an exit from the Park before making a successful kill.

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Livestock incursions in Tsavo East were surprisingly minimal throughout the month. Relatively small numbers of cattle were sighted up to around 4-6 kilometres into the Park, which is a huge improvement on previous years. This is attributable to a sustained effort by KWS to keep the livestock out. Tsavo West has also seen a reduction of cattle; however, with much larger pressure in terms of head of livestock along the Western boundary of Tsavo West, herds intruding in the Park were bigger in size. A renewed push towards the end of the month saw many of these cattle removed.

The helicopter was also involved in extinguishing 2 fires: a small one on the Yatta Plateau set by honey harvesters as well as a larger bush fire in the Chyulu Hills near Kikunduku. The latter fire was not put out in its entirety; however, the helicopter and Bambi bucket combination were effective in attacking the main head of the fire, and the rest went out naturally by the following morning with the help on teams on the ground.

Two veterinary cases were attended to with assistance from the helicopter on the same day. The first was a young elephant calf with a severely infected and swollen front leg. The cause of the injury is unknown, but the vet was able to drain a large amount of pus from the injury before administering long lasting antibiotics to aid in the elephant’s recovery. The injury will require follow-up treatment due to the severity of the infection and we are in the process of trying to locate the elephant again so that this can be done. The second case was of an adult bull elephant near Manyani that appeared to be suffering from a broken leg. Upon examination, the break was discovered to be relatively old and had already fused. Therefore, no treatment was necessary.

The only other illegal activity noted in March was 5 charcoal kilns outside of the Park but in a protected area. Highlights in March included multiple lion and leopard sightings as well as 16 wild dogs at a spring on the Yatta Plateau and two honey badgers in Tsavo West.

Photographs copyright © 2019 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust